World News

Conductor/arranger/composer Rogerio Duprat, one of the most forward-looking figures in Brazilian orchestral music, died Oct. 26 of complications from cancer. In the 1950s he was part of the São Paulo State symphony orchestra and the São Paulo city symphony orchestra. In 1956 he founded and directed the São Paulo chamber orchestra, in which he performed as a violoncellist. In 1960, he began to compose and record for the theater, television and cinema. The following year he joined the erudite vanguard movement Música nova in São Paulo. In the early 1960s, Duprat traveled to Europe, studying with Pierre Boulez in France and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Germany. Upon his return to Brazil, he began exploring experimental computer music with Damiano Cozzella. In 1967 he was nominated for the Roquette Pinto award as Arranger of the Year, and the Best Arranger award at TV Record’s 3rd Popular Music Festival for arranging the song "Domingo No Parque" by Gilberto Gil. He played a major role in Tropicalismo, recording the 1968 album Tropicália ou Panis et Circenses alongside Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Nara Leão and Torquato Neto. That same year, he worked as the musical director on the program Divino Maravilhoso. He arranged countless important records of Brazilian popular music through the years, and wrote more than 40 soundtracks for movies. He also produced jingles. After a temporary retirement from artistic activities because of health problems, he went back to work in the 1990s, creating arrangements for Lulu Santos and Rita Lee.